there's only two reasons for a federal list on gun owners, to either tax them or take them. >> cenk: that's absolute nonsense. what we're trying to figure out is who's felons, who's mentally ill. what's really interesting is that has not always been the nra position. there was an interesting article where they explained they switched positions earlier: >> cenk: it's interesting the parallel between a lot of the gun owners today and a lot of the owners back them. back then, the n.r.a. wasn't in favor of that. all of a sudden they started talking about gun control. the black panthers said: >> cenk: when the black panthers were saying that, the n.r.a. was not buying it. let me bring in the man who wrote the book on this, called "gunfight, the battle over the right to bear articles in america." talk to me about the context of the second amendment when passed. >> it was added to the constitution right when the framers were trying to adopt the new constitution. it was designed to protect the individual's right to have a firearm. the founding fathers didn't believe in a standing army. they